Whose Law?

  In the last section of Luke 5 and beginning of Luke 6 Jesus is preaching primarily to the Jewish religious leaders.  His message was not one that they wanted to hear:  that the laws they had added on to God’s laws were too much.  Those additional laws placed an undue burden on the people trying to follow God’s laws.  There were so many laws that the average person couldn’t even know all of them, much less follow them.  These laws were not helps, they were hindrances.

  It takes a little time for Jesus to get through to the religious leaders, but when they finally understand that Jesus is criticizing them and their rules they turn on Jesus.  They close their hearts to Jesus’ teaching and look only for ways to trip him up.

  For Reflection:  Our God is not a god of “gotcha” – constantly looking for ways to trip us up on the technicalities.  He is not looking for ways to keep us out of his kingdom but for ways to help us into the kingdom.  Let us keep our hearts, our eyes and our ears open to see what God is saying to us.

  Let us pray.  “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. . . Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me (Psalm 51:1-2, 10-12).

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